DearDiary Logo
Public DiariesHomeLogin

D'vorahDavida
Yetzirah

Gardening In The Trenches
Wed Apr 22 2009


It's hot here.

90 degrees. Plus a hot breeze. Oy, it sucks the moisture out of one's body.

This morning I finished all the planting that is going to happen around here this season.
The green beans went in the ground, the crookneck squash, the zuchinni, and finally two packs of petunias got stuck in the ground.

I'm DONE.

Now it's my job to protect all these plants from this nasty little beastie:

Bane of my garden

Over the last two nights alone I have dispatched about forty of them.

Yes Virginia, I said forty.

We only had slugs until this year. I can only guess that we had a hitchhiker on some plant we bought at the nursery. I rue the day.

I haven't bought any poisons yet, I'm worried about the animals, though I have been told there are things that won't hurt them available. I just haven't looked into it yet. In the meantime, it's search and destroy. I feel so callous.

But they can do in a small plant in one night if left to their own devices.

So it's war.

And as everyone knows, war is hell.

I have been picking them off my plants and other places I spot them and plopping them into a pan of salt. I can only stand stomping on one or two of them, then I lose my nerve. So it's the salt mines for them. Once in a while I apologize to them. If they would just stay in the weed patch that is my neighbor's yard, they would be safe and cozy. But here, we have food growing and all bets are off.

Sigh.

Who knew gardening could be so violent.

6 Comments
  • From:
    Pragmatist (Legacy)
    On:
    Wed Apr 22 2009
    I sometimes question whether G-d actually created ALL things. If He did, then there must be a reason (besides aggravating gardeners) for this particular creature, but for the life of me, I can't think of one good reason for its existence.

    Edible? No Way!!!


    Bless
  • From:
    Mamallama (Legacy)
    On:
    Wed Apr 22 2009
    Ick.
    I hate those little beasties, too.
    I haven't seen any here.
    Oh no.
    Maybe I shouldn't have said that.
    Shhhhhhh.
  • From:
    Welshamethyst (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Apr 23 2009
    Try putting some beer in a canning jar lid and adding a little salt. Works wonders for the snails and slugs that love-love-love to eat my hosta plants. Just tuck it at the base of the plant and see what happens. The worst that can happen is that you're out a couple bucks for a 6-pack of cheap beer.
  • From:
    404Error (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Apr 23 2009
    The beer is a really great idea. I know that it can work. One of the things we do that seems to keep the slugs at bey is sprinkling crushed egg shells all around our low-lying plants. They don't like them because the shells stick to them and cut them when they rub up against things, and they can't get the shells off.
  • From:
    Allimom (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Apr 23 2009
    Egg shells. Use your own, beg them from your neighbors. Crush them up and work them around your plants so they are partially in the soil, but still sticking above it. When the snails/slugs slid across them, it cuts and subsequently kills them.

    Copper. Find copper strips, at the very least 1/2 inch thick. It is reputed that slugs and snails will not cross this. I've not done it myself, but I'm told it works the best on raised beds where you can just nail or otherwise affix it to the top of whatever is being used to contain the raised bed.

    Hopefully you already know this one, BEER.
    Either set a pie tin into the ground, flush with it, and fill it about half full with beer. Or, submerge a beer bottle with a bit of beer left in the bottom in the most troublesome areas of your garden, change them out every few days, as needed.

    Or, if you're lucky... your dogs will develop a taste for them and clean up the garden for you.
    Alli
  • From:
    Salted (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Apr 23 2009
    Ihave heard if U spray salt water on the plants it will deter them...also U can use dish soap but not if your being organic good luck!